I Was Talking With @clownscasino Today About How Service Oriented Clown Is As A Person. At First Glance

I was talking with @clownscasino today about how service oriented Clown is as a person. At first glance it can seem like he's just arrogant and self-absorbed because he leans on his reputation so much, but consider: every time anyone praises him for his role in a team project, he gets flustered and tries to pass credit onto someone else. He did it during the funhouse arc of Lifesteal with Branzy. Every time Branzy would downplay his own contributions to the funhouse Clown would turn it back around on him ("you only built the whole thing"). Or more recently during the faction event on The Realm, when Sneeg credited him with getting all the gunpowder, Clown immediately corrected him and said it was a team effort. Like, insistently. For a guy obsessed with his reputation, he really does not like being complimented. 

His best alliances and friendships have always been with people who are undeniably weaker than him. People he can protect. From chasing Leo down and killing him for hurting Branzy to logging back onto The Realm when Bad and Pili were threatening Ros, when he has someone to protect he will do so with an almost singleminded focus. Fighting is something he's good at, and protection is a service he can provide to the people he loves. This is also why on The Realm he keeps handing out high level armor and equipment like candy. He's trying to buy his teammates' love by showing them how useful he is. He needs to be useful. His reputation is everything to him because his reputation is the service he is providing. If he doesn't have his reputation, he doesn't have a use. There is no point to a ClownPierce who doesn't have that reputation.

And that's also the reason those alliances with weaker individuals work better. People who are a near equal to him inevitably turn on him. They want to be the one to take him down. They don't need anything else from him. They don't need his protection. They just need his title. It's the only thing he has to give anyone, strong or weak, but at least the weak players don't want to steal the only thing he has when they're done with him.

Incidentally, this is why I think Clown and Ros work so well together as a pair, because Ros is service oriented too. When Clown offers her his protection, she reciprocates. She finds diamonds and other materials Clown wants and she collects them for him. She builds him a room in the castle. When Molluskus shows up, she tries to protect him the way he protects her. He shares his plan to usurp the King with her. She shares her plan to build a second castle with him. They both have something to offer the other. Her acts of service function to show him that they're equals in their partnership.